Where?
Do you know where your information is coming from?
You will need to establish the location and origin of the information.
Which part of the World is your information coming from and on whose computer is it located?
Remember, information on the Internet might be based on a computer anywhere in the world. Although this has great advantages, it can also mean that you lose track of what you are looking at:
- hyperlinks - might take you to the front page of a site but they are more likely to take you to the middle of a site
- search engines - can index much more than the front page of a site - so they may take you to a page deep within a site
It is very easy to become lost in Cyberspace and lose track of where you are and what you are looking at. It can be difficult to tell exactly where one site ends and another begins. At the click of a mouse button you can move from one site to another without even realising!
However it is essential to keep track if you are using the Internet for serious research as the location and origin of the information may affect its quality.
Quality warning!
Remember, your search results might list:
Sites from every country on the planet - all mixed up together.
Sites from university servers next to sites on commercial ISPs.
Sites that appear professional but are actually just for fun.
Detecting the whereabouts of your information
Ask questions
- Where am I? Where is this site located - in which country and on who's computer?
- How did I get here? Did I reach this site from an authoritative source?
- Am I in the middle of a site or at the front page? Is this the most relevant part of the site for me to be using?
Look for clues
To help you orientate yourself within a web site it's worth exploring:
- "Home" buttons belonging to the site - by clicking on a "Home" button you will see the front page of the site
- Navigation buttons - i.e. "back", "forward", "previous" or "next" - following these can give you a feel for where you are
- Site maps - give an overview of the structure of the whole site. They are very useful navigation aids
- Contact details - the address, email address or phone area code can give useful clues about the location of the site
Tips on checking the content
- The URL structure - can give lots of clues about your location within a resource. We'll look at this in more detail in the next section.
If you don't know where your information is coming from be wary of citing it.
